Misery Loves Company
by Zack Hiwatari-Chan
Summary: Post Apocalyptic Bluepulse AU. Series of interconnected oneshots. The Time Machine was always plan B. The Reach Scarabs have Two well known weaknesses. New God Technology, and Magic. But there was one less known weakness, Sonic Frequencies. An attempt to take out the Blue Beetle results in a heart stopping discovery and Jaime Reyes finds himself thrust into a very different world.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything! If I did, they'd never have canceled this show.**

**Uploaded from my Tumblr account~**

* * *

It had taken months of research, trial and error, and stealth-theft to complete. But it was going to be worth it. Bart Allen was a hundred percent sure that his invention would work as intended.

In theory, the weapon should fire a concentrated sonic frequency. If his calculations were right, the frequency would be completely incompatible with Reach technology. More specifically, the Beetle warrior armor.

He had wanted to test it first, but there wasn't any time for that. If he wanted a clear shot at the Blue Beetle specifically; then he had to act now. He had one shot, maybe not even that if the Beetles scanners picked him up before he pulled the trigger.

True to his information, the Blue Beetle was soon flying overhead. Without a moment of hesitation, Bart pulled the trigger.

It started the moment the sonic frequency came into contact with the armored monster. The Blue Beetle fell to the ground with a earth shattering crash. Bart didn't release his hold on the trigger. The frequency kept going, and increased in pitch as a result.

The Beetle writhed agony for a moment before something unexpected happened. The layers of added armor began peeling away. Underneath the added mass and metal muscles, was a much younger looking form wearing a more skin tight form of armor.

Then the screaming started.

Bart didn't think he'd ever be able to forget the horrible sound. The Beetle was in so much pain, he almost considered letting up. But he didn't, he couldn't; there was too much at stake. Within moments, what felt to him like hours, the remaining armor retracted.

THAT was when Bart ended the frequency. But only because he almost dropped his invention.

Under the armor, the Blue Beetle, was human? Not just human, but a kid who couldn't be more than a couple years older than him! But, that was impossible. The Blue Beetle had been around for over forty years!

Yet, the proof was right in front of him. Black hair, darker colored skin, but most definitely a teenager. Vaguely some part of his brain questioned why he hadn't stopped starring yet, but that wasn't the real issue.

The real issue was, what did he do now?


	2. Misery Loves Solitude

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything! If I did, they'd never have canceled this show.**

**Uploaded from my Tumblr account~**

_"Spanish"_

"English"

_'Thoughts/Scarab Talking'_

* * *

It had been his fault that they had been put on mode.

It had been his fault that he suffered for so many years, and more importantly, that so many other people suffered for his mistake. Despite not being in control, he could see and hear everything with crystal clarity. As if his body hadn't been moving without his violation.

He could _see_ his friends and other heroes of the league dying at his hand, he could _feel_ as his body landed the finishing blow, he could _hear_ their screams.

They had intermingled with his own.

But no one could hear him. Not even the ambassador that controlled them. Not even the scarab. Despite what he might have said or thought before about wanting to be alone. He couldn't possibly have imagined what it would be like to truly be alone.

With no one to hear you, and no one to speak to. It was horrible. It felt as though you didn't even exist. He felt that way for such a long time, after he realized that screaming wouldn't get heard.

He wished anyone would speak to him, not the Blue Beetle, not the Scarab, _him_. For the last decade it took everything he had left of himself, just to remember who he was. There were moments, when he'd forget. As if he needed someone to tell him, to validate his existence.

But that moment never came.

He sat there for forty years, watching, listening. He talked to himself sometimes, but even then it felt like he was losing himself. He would ramble to himself for hours about himself. Talk about his family, his friends, what the team had been like before they died, what he had been like before they were put on mode. He even talked about the scarab, Kaji Da. But only briefly.

Then it happened, they had been flying somewhere, on some mission he hadn't bothered to pay attention too. He didn't need to after all. There was a sudden overwhelming wave a pain, they crashed.

It only got worse from there. Both of them had screamed, whatever was attacking them somehow causing pain to the Scarab as well. Soon, Darkness overcame him.

After what seemed like an eternity of blackness, of nothingness. Just as he was sure he had finally died and was in some sort of personal hell, he woke up.

He opened his eyes.

Wait, _he felt his body tense upand his eyes widen_.

_He felt his body_ tense up and _his eyes widen_.

_**He felt.**_

His breathing pick up, was he hyperventilating? He couldn't tell. But that was normal. Wasn't it?

No. It wasn't. He was breathing, he was moving, _He was in control_.

He sat up quickly and looked wildly around, he had no idea where he was. But it was definitely not the Reach Base. It looked like some sort of underground bunker. Like an old world war two bomb shelter that someone had tricked out to be a respectable living quarters.

Of course, that didn't answer any of the questions flying around his head. But at least it was a start. He was still having trouble breathing, and he suddenly noticed his nails digging into his palms.

When had he clenched his fits? He didn't remember.

Slowly, he unclenched them, as if he had forgotten how. Maybe he had, he hadn't been in control of their body for so long. It wouldn't surprise him.

His breathing had settled down, but it was still shaky. And he was shaking too. He felt like he was going to cry, and, maybe he was. He had long since forgotten what that felt like. It had been so long since he felt anything really.

Well, he had felt what the Scarab felt. But that wasn't really feeling. Feeling what you were doing, and what your body was doing were, two different things apparently.

He stared at his palms, they had red little marks on them now. Not quite bleeding, but his nails had definitely cut into the skin. Strangely, pain didn't seem as bad as it had before going on mode. It was nice to feel anything of his own violation, even if it was pain.

He wasn't alone, he knew that. He couldn't be, not any more. There must be others close by. Who would trust the Blue Beetle alone in their home? No one of a sane mind would.

Though he couldn't really speak of sanity. He had the horrible feeling that he had last his long ago.

He didn't know how long he simply sat there breathing and blinking. No matter how hard he tried to how long he sat there, he knew. He would never get used to being in control again. Not ever.

It had been taken from him for so long, every little sensation seemed to be screaming at him.

_'Jaime Reyes'_

He froze, and began hyperventilating all over again. That was him. He was Jaime Reyes, wasn't he?

He still sometimes forgot. But who was speaking? Then it hit him, The Scarab. Kaji Da. It was comforting, in a way, to hear it's voice. It's true voice, not the mindless robot that had been a servant of the reach. The voice of his partner, the Scarab that he had become the Blue Beetle along side him. Way back when the Blue Beetle had been a hero and not a monster.

He waited for the Scarab to speak again, but it didn't. As if it had wanted to say something, but rethought it for some reason. Perhaps for now it was satisfied by reminding him who he was.

Suddenly he heard them, far off footsteps. Someone was coming.


	3. Misery Loves Language

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything! If I did, they'd never have canceled this show.**

**Uploaded from my Tumblr account~**

_"Spanish"_

"English"

_'Thoughts/Scarab Talking'_

* * *

"Let's try this again. Who are you?"

"_My name is Jaime Reyes._"

Bart groaned in frustration. This had been going on for a while, he'd ask a question and try to figure out what was going on. But the Blue Beetle would reply in a totally different language.

The most be had been able to figure out was that his name was Jaime.

Jaime groaned as well. This was ridiculous, he could understand Bart perfectly fine, but for some reason Bart couldn't understand him at all.

_'That's because you are not speaking English.'_ Kaji Da's voice interjected.

Jaime frowned. "_Of course I am. Aren't I?_" He wasn't entirely sure on that actually. It had been so long since he had an actual conversation out loud, that maybe he was confusing his languages.

Bart didn't understand what Jaime was saying, but it didn't feel like it was directed at him. "Okay, Jaime, how long have you been the Blue Beetle?"

Jaime tried to focus on speaking English. "_A little over forty years._" Judging from Bart's face palm he was failing. The problem might be that he didn't know how to distinguish between the two anymore. It was all the same in his head after all.

"_Look, this isn't working, at all. Maybe we should just give it a rest. It's not like I'm going anywhere_." He sighed.

The younger teen sighed. "You obviously understand me, but you keep saying stuff in another language. But considering you didn't kill me the moment I stepped in here, I'm going to say you're not evil." The redhead said dryly.

Bart stood up from where he had sat down near the door. "That's going to have to be good enough for now."

The other teen sighed. "Yeah I guess it is." He replied without thinking,

Bart blinked in surprise and spun around. "Okay, that time it was in English."

"It was? YES!" Jaime cheered. "I thought I'd never speak normally again." He grinned. He had no idea how he was speaking English again, but he decided not to question it.

As serious a person as he usually was, Bart couldn't help but give a small smile back.

There was something about Jaime that was just, non-malevolent to an extreme. It was hard to see him as the same guy that betrayed the human race.

"So, um, your question. I've been the Blue Beetle for a little over forty years." Jaime said, pausing. "Has it really been that long…" He whispered to himself, just how long he had been on mode finally hit him.

"So all these years, since the invasion, since the Reach took over, it's been the same guy." Bart commented to himself. "How?"

"I don't know." Jaime admitted. "I think the scarab armor was designed that way, to protect the host from everything. I guess that included aging."

Bart raised an eyebrow. "That's majorly advanced tech. Wait, scarab?"

"There's a scarab infused to my spine, the Reach beetle warriors are all scarabs that attach to the host body like that." Jaime explained. "Mine was off mode, majorly damaged before the invasion. When we got put on mode, it took over."

"Is it still there? On mode?" Bart asked urgently, suddenly right in front of Jaime.

Jaime leaned back. "No, it's not on mode. Whatever you did to knock us out damaged Kaji Da severely, he's back to the way he was before the Invasion."

Bart tilted his head to the side in confusion. "Kaji Da?"

"That's the Scarab's name." Jaime said as if it was obvious.

"It has a name." Bart deadpanned.

"Course, why wouldn't it?" Jaime asked.

"Because it's an evil piece of planet enslaving technology." Bart said bluntly.

Jaime frowned. "Hey now back up _ese_, what happened was just as much against his will as it was mine!" He didn't know why he felt the need to defend the scarab, but he did.

It was Kaji Da who had warned him not to trust Green Beetle, and he hadn't listened. It was his fault, he owed the scarab at least this much.

Bart gave Jaime a disbelieving look. "Right, I'll have to take your word for it." He didn't really trust Jaime, but for some reason he decided that he could trust the word of the other teen.

"So there, that's what happened. I made a stupid decision, got put on mode, and destroyed the human race." Jaime said miserably. "Now I'm off mode and even more useless then I was before. I can't even speak English properly anymore!"

Bart blinked. "I'm going to attribute the mood swings to some kind of instability brought on by being on mode."

Jaime nodded in agreement. "Probably, I think I went kind of crazy for a while, then that got boring, so I went sane, very sane.." He sounded like he was quoting something.

"At least we're clear on the whole 'unwillingly caused the apocalypse and not going to kill us in our sleep' thing." Bart shrugged. "So that eliminates a lot of the issues I had coming in here."

"_Okay? Well what now them?_" Jaime asked. He hung his head when Bart groaned. "_I'm speaking Spanish again, aren't I?_"

Bart shook his head. "I guess that's the end of the conversation. I better go check in with Nathanial anyway. See-ya 'round, Blue." The Speedster called over his shoulder as he left the room.

Jaime sighed. "_Well, what do you think?_"

_'He is trustworthy, for now. But very much a threat. Do not grow used to his company, nor should he grow used to ours.'_ Kaji Da warned. They both knew there was a very real possibility of them being found and put on mode again.

"_Yeah, I guess you're right._" Jaime said, shaking his head. "_Shame, he seemed like a nice kid._"


End file.
